If you don't want to get food on your digital camera or if you don't want to have them smashed into several tiny pieces, then you might want to consider getting your child a kid-friendly digicam.
If your kid is around 7-8 years old, then maybe you want to let them have your old shooter. Then, you have an excuse to get yourself that nice shiny new one! For your younger kids, you can get them one of the following:
Crayola 2.1 MP Digital Camera
It's lightweight and compact and has a neck strap. However, its LCD is kind of low in quality and has no internal memory. And it only has a single-eye viewfinder. It has a built-in flash and accepts SD cards up to 3GB. This little camera runs on 3 AAA batteries.
It's quite sturdy, or at least sturdier than a regular digicam. It's easy for kids to use because it only has 5 buttons - on/off, forward and reverse playback, delete and a shutter button. It also only has one setting - high vs. low resolution. Although, it doesn't have additional special camera features, it does have basic photo editing software, games and other kid-friendly software which you can run on your PC.
The Crayola 2.1 MP Digital Camera's LCD is meant for kids, because if a grown-up were to use it, it would be unacceptable. First, it's small. Next, it can hardly be used in any lighting situation. The images can get really washed out and you can hardly frame your photo, not that your three-year old will be thinking of those things, but still...
Third, shots taken with the flash seem blown out, so much that some subjects are hard to recognize when shot up close. On the plus side, images - especially those taken at a high resolution 1,600x1,200 - are surprisingly good, once you upload them on your computer, that is. Overall, this digicam is fairly good... at least for the little kiddies. Good enough to print out 6x4s.
Two more things, always make sure you have an SD card on hand before letting your little one play with this camera (no internal memory, remember?), and the SD card slot and the battery compartments have to be screwed to be accessed. Probably another safety measure so that kids won't stick their fingers. Just make sure you have screwdrivers too, because those tykes can get really impatient!
Specs
- 2.1 megapixels
- 1.3-inch LCD
- Priced at $59.99
Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera
This one's really durable. It's also waterproof, and has a two-eye finder. It has a rubberized grip to prevent slipping, and to absorb shock in case your little one drops it. Apart from the different exterior, the camera features are pretty similar to the Crayola.
The downside is that its shutter button is a little hard to press. It's LCD is also of low quality and has low resolution. On top of all that, it has no memory card slots. According to reports, it's supposed to be the clunkiest among the three.
It also has five buttons, except for the shutter button which the manufacturers mounted on the front rather than on top of the camera, which then recesses in such a way that is hard for some kids to press. Kid-tough digicam also doesn't come with a strap so it's prone to being dropped.
There's also no hook or hole that you can attach a strap to so you'll probably end up carrying the bulky thing once your kid grows tired of playing with it. On the plus side, it has a two-eye viewfinder which makes it easier for kids to use especially since the LCD is of really low quality. Kid-tough also doesn't come with other on-camera functions, save for going from high to low resolution.
It also doesn't have other software that kids can play with. The image quality is very low, but again, it's something the kids don't seem to mind. The onboard memory can hold up to 500 pictures. To upload them to your computer, you will need the included USB cable. The battery compartment doesn't require a screw to be opened (yet its latch is still impossible to open), so that is probably a plus. It works on 4 AAA batteries.
Specs
- 1.3 interpolated megapixels
- 1.5-inch LCD
- 64MB internal memory
- Priced at $50.00
Vtech Kidizoom Digital Camera
Vtech Kidizoom has got to be the best among the three. It has a high-resolution, video capability and lots of cool things that kids will love. For one, it has on-camera games - tic-tac-toe, a rotation puzzle, and a matching pairs game - that are really handy when they have nothing else to do. It even comes with volume buttons for the games. It has a video shooting mode, though the quality is not very high.
Also, if you plan to shoot lots of videos (or lots of pictures for that matter) you will need a bigger memory. Luckily, the Vtevh Kidizoom accepts extended memory of up to 16MB using an SB card. You can also play images and video on your television using the 2 changeable face plates (install the one your kid would like better and then assume that the other one will be lost sometime).
The Vtech's LCD is the best among the three, which is makes it more usable as a real camera. The image quality is the same as the Crayola, which means they are acceptable for printing small pictures. And speaking of pictures, another fun feature of this camera is the on-camera photo effects, meaning you can add cartoony effects or enhancements to your photos--think bunny ears, mustaches, eye patches...name it!
Like the Fisher-Price digital camera, it has a two-eye viewfinder that is great for helping kids frame shots. It may not be as durable and rubberized as the other, but it's still fairly durable. On top of all these, the Vetch kidizoom comes with a wrist strap to prevent dropping the camera. The downside is, like the Crayola, the battery and SD card compartments require a screwdriver. To make things worse, the Vtech has two compartments for batteries.
All these features might be a bit much for your preschooler, what with all the functions and the buttons - all 7 of them, plus a 4-directional joystick. You will have to go over the menu system until you're used to what each icon means. However, reportedly a 4 ½ year old kid - with adult prompting - had no trouble mastering the Vtech Kidizoom for only a short period of time
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